A broken record.

1. Week Three of my return to the gym has gone well. Yoga, running, weights, I'm trying it all and trying to switch it up to keep my metabolism higher.
2. Productive meeting at work re: activities, bedridden residents and management expectations.
3. 3-day weekend. For C and I. Bliss.
4. New, improved grocery budget. I am excited about it. We will see how it goes.
5. My new desk is super cool and multi-purpose. It makes me happy just to see it!

Work, Virus, Christmas.

I have managed to work every shift that was offered to me this month. That means I've been at work or preparing to go to work every day this month except Fridays. And today.

Because today, I woke up with the virus that has been making the rounds at work forcing the whole home to institute a period of isolation from outside visitors or trips out. I am the first staff member to get it. And I come into contact with nearly every resident. Way to go, immune system.

Thank goodness the shopping for Friday has been long completed. Wrapping completed today while lying around.

I am glad that I have played the Christmas music to death the last few weeks. C has insinuated on several occasions that his ears may begin to spontaneously bleed if I play Frosty the Snowman one more time.

England has received more than it's requisite snow for the year. Beyond this stupid just in time for Christmas! illness, I feel great. I have accomplished a lot on my sick day, some cleaning and baking interspersed with resting. Tomorrow will be full of the same, since I will not be 24 hours clear to go back to work.

Is this illness a Christmas blessing in disguise? I have completely worn myself out at work the last couple of weeks. And I just said yesterday that I was bone tired. Christmas blessing or coincidence? Whichever it is, I am thankful for this illness. (I never thought I would write that sentence!)

I am looking forward to my days of rest. And I will be glad to return to work on Sunday, healthy and relaxed.

Everybody's working for the weekend.

Today was the longest day ever. Also my brain is barely fuctioning, I am so excited about my trip to Maryland.

So this is for NaBloPoMo. It is not much substance. But I am here, my voice in my little corner of the interwebs.

In no particular order, things that happened today:

* I cut my finger whilst chopping potatoes
* Up early to shop at the ski outlet store.
* Chicken and vegetable pasty for lunch. NOM.
* Thought about leaving work early today, it was SO boring.
* Told everyone at work who would listen about my trip.
* Made lots of photocopies, planning for future activities and completed some word searches.
* Visited some friends for a few laughs and tea.

Today should have been a duvet day.

I am supposed to start work at 10:30 a.m. This means I need to leave my house no later than 10 a.m. What time did I wake up this morning? Why yes, that would be 10 a.m. I'm not sure why I overslept because my alarm went off at its usual time, I got out of bed, brushed my teeth, etc. And GOT BACK IN BED!!!

So I jumped up at 10 a.m., dressed and put my hair up and ran out the door. I got to work with one minute to spare. And, wait for it...FORGOT MY UNIFORM. So drop my bag off and run home. Grab the uniform I left just inside the door and run back to work.

Finally clocked in, 30 minutes late. Thank dog for flex-time.

There were myriad things that just threw the day further into turmoil (at some point I sent an FML text to C). But the first few issues really had me frustrated. Because honestly, I should be in control of that stuff. And it frustrates me when I am forgetful and lazy and things just seem to be going wrong for no reason.

The day improved with the help of some of the lovely residents I work with and taking the time to let go of this morning's antics. How do you deal with days where the odds seem to be stacked against you?

Back to reality.

After such a wonderful weekend, today was a bit tough to swallow. Even though I love my job.

Mondays are my long day and today was just like other Mondays, with extra assignments and questions to boot.

Some highlights of the fun:

-Whilst doing a 'quiz' with the residents, they were asked to complete the proverb given. I said, 'Every dog...' And one of the women said 'I know!' When asked what the rest of the proverb was she responds, "Every dog has a silver lining!"*

-We made Christmas cards today! It was fun to make a mess, be creative and play with scissors and glue.

-This evening I did a 'creative thinking' exercise based on Ernest Hemingway's short story: Baby shoes, for sale, never used. (Those six words are the entire story...) One of the residents told this story in six words: Car loses wheel, chauffeur takes charge. Another resident's story was 'wrought iron fence supports driver failure.'

And so things improved. When C picked me up, I was even happier. Friends and pub quiz made the night. I am glad that I am in a good spell now! Lots of goings on and laughing. Back to life, it is good.


*The correct answer was 'every dog has his day'. But the combining of 'every cloud has a silver lining' and 'every dog has his day' reminded me of Boondock Saints:

Doc: You know what they say: People in glass houses sink sh-sh-ships.
Rocco: Doc, I gotta buy you, like, a proverb book or something. This mix'n'match shit's gotta go.
Doc: What?
Connor: A penny saved is worth two in the bush, isn't it?
Murphy: And don't cross the road if you can't get out of the kitchen.

Friday Five

Each Friday, I will be posting five things that were good about the week. These could be really exciting or fairly mundane. I do this list every week in my notebooks or in my day planner. It really helps me to see all the good things in my life.

1. A great fiance, who does dishes, takes out rubbish and takes me to the supermarket at 9 p.m. to buy cake.
2. The gym at the end of my road. Making it easier to get healthy (forget what I just said about cake, ok?) and there are no excuses because it is so close!
3. A job that makes me laugh everyday. (I will share some funny stories soon!)
4. Phone calls from my mom. Even though I know she misses me, she still finds the strength to encourage me to pursue and live my dream every day.
5. My day off on Fridays. I love waking up a little bit later, going to the gym, lounging in my pajamas and then running errands and doing housework. I would be a great stay at home person.

Share your Friday Five on your blog or in the comments! Hope you've had a good week!

Good Evening.

I think I need to do a bit of planning for these posts. Right now, I am totally 'winging' it. Almost afraid I wouldn't be able to post today, we went to a gig in London. Clutch would have been totally worth missing a day of NaBloPoMo for, since they are one of the best bands. Very loud and quite catchy, if I do say so.

Shameless promotion of a fine rock band from Maryland, USA: www.pro-rock.com



What kinds of music do you like? Recommend some music? Tell me about it in the comments!

In other news, today was a better day at work. Also, I am going to see my mom in 3 weeks!

second verse same as the first.

I have said it before, I love my job. The hours are great, the people mostly wonderful. The only thing that could be better is the pay. But honestly? I still love it.

My job requires me to plan and execute activities for elderly people suffering from Parkinson's, dementia and stroke. I work in a local nursing home; it is always challenging and mostly fun.

I was ill at the weekend, finally well today, I was excited to go to work since I missed my Saturday shift. Maybe I am still recovering from the weekend, or maybe I woke up without all my patience, but at several points today I wished I had stayed home in bed.

Here is my rant about work:

01.It is harder to reason with octogenarians with most of their mental faculties than it is to reason with a two year old.
02.I hate being asked the same question by the same resident everyday. S/he knows the answer, because they start the conversation "I know you said X about Y, but I just wanted to know if I could do Y?" Ummmm, no. The answer is the same as it was the last time you asked.
03.People that ask if we can do G activity because it 'sounds interesting and fun' or 'that was nice the last time we did it' and then DO NOT TURN UP to the aforementioned activity. The next day/week some of these people will say, why didn't we get to do G activity?

The things I love about work:

01.I get to be fairly creative on a daily basis.
02.I speak to a variety of people each day, all with varying needs, wants, interests, abilities and limitations.
03.All of the things I dislike as well as the variety of people I am with on a daily basis keep me constantly engaged and challenged at work. Even if there is not a feasible solution.
04.Things at work make me laugh a lot. The people are funny, sometimes the situations are funny.
05.My supervisor is great. People think she is hard to get along with, but really, just DBAD and you will be fine.

My shifts on Mondays are 10:30 A.M.-5:30 P.M. and 7 P.M.-9 P.M. I stay at work between shifts, and have dinner, prepare activities for the evening and assist with supper for residents (if necessary).

By 8:30 P.M. tonight, I was losing my patience in a big way with one of the residents (Resident S). And obviously, you must endeavour to be kind and patient all the time with all the residents, so I was walking out of the room to get away from Resident S and s/he follows me!* So I retreat back to the room I just came from, and one of the other residents says, "You can't get any peace around here, can you?"

"I am just running out of energy to deal with Resident S right now."

"Then you won't ever get peace...not for love nor money!" (Laughs).

I start laughing. Resident S is now back in the room and thinks I am laughing at him/her.

I realise that I am fighting a losing battle trying to communicate and reason with Resident S. So I prepare Resident D to go back to his/her room and say good-bye to Resident S.

I have never felt so relieved.




This post brought to you by: the people at work who drive me up a wall.




*Resident S, due to their limitations has difficulty holding a 'normal' conversation. S/he will repeat and repeat and repeat a story, statement or request until s/he gets a response. Offering alternatives or solutions is a lost cause. S/he will respond "Oh no, I could never do that because X. But don't tell anyone." What?! Why is anyone going to care about that? Basically, everything in Resident S' life is a crisis, that s/he has no control over and no one can help with, though we are supposed to pander to each crisis. But by being sympathetic, s/he says 'Oh you have no idea how hard Z is or what I have to do for Y." It is a constant uphill battle with Resident S and after being at work for ten hours, it is extremely wearing.